2016's True Feminist Candidate

[sabrina 1]

2016's True Feminist Candidate

Over the years, my career goals may have shifted a little bit, straying out of the political world. But this past April, when Hillary Clinton announced her candidacy for 2016, I was excited to think that even if I wasn't destined for the Oval Office, at least I could cast my first vote in a presidential election for the woman who would be living out my childhood dream.

The problem was, I couldn't shake the feeling that I wasn't backing Hillary out of any sort of excitement or belief that she would fight for the things that I valued, but rather, that I was pulling for her by default. I was disturbed to see that Hillary had spoken out against same sex marriage as late as 2004, her foreign affairs policies seemed to me somewhat imperialistic, and the last straw came when, after being asked what her view was on the Keystone XL pipeline, she responded, "If it's undecided when I become president, I will answer your question." I was beginning to lose faith in the 2016 election as a whole.

I have to make a correction regarding the last time Hillary spoke out against gay marriage, it was as late as 2013 actually.

But then, along came Bernie.

When I first read through Bernie Sanders' platform after hearing that he'd tossed his hat in, I could just picture him, perched atop some sort of noble steed, surrounded by a glowing white halo (or maybe it was just his hair), ready to save America from the big money that has been threatening to take over politics for so long. He's been singing the same tune for decades; instead of shifting his views to keep up with the political climate, it feels like the political climate is shifting to coincide with his views. Everything he says and does emanates the authenticity I so value in public figures. Just like that, he had my vote.

Now, when people ask me why I'm supporting Bernie, instead of running through his platform point by point, I just tell them it's because I'm a feminist. Frequently, I am met with confusion, and questions such as: "But if you're a feminist, shouldn't you be voting for Hillary?" My typical response to that is pointing out that, by that logic, I would have also been voicing my support of Sarah Palin a few years back.

I think, as a woman, that even asking a woman to vote for a woman based on them being a women is anti-feminist because it assumes that women do not have the ability to look beyond gender and are expected to be easily manipulated by what's on the surface. I find that to be insulting to women in general.

What's more is that Bernie's platform doesn't just help women who are struggling financially, it protects women everywhere. Bernie has consistently voted over his entire political career to uphold Roe vs. Wade, which protects pregnant women, granting them access safe and legal abortions, and this is a feminist issue. When Bernie voted against the Defense of Marriage Act nearly twenty years ago, he was protecting lesbian, bisexual, and queer women who sought to marry other women, and that was a feminist issue. When Bernie Sanders has the audacity to suggest this outlandishly socialist notion that women in our workforce should receive equal pay for an equal amount of work, that is a feminist issue.

I would add one more reason why women should and probably ARE supporting Bernie.

You CANNOT claim to support Women AND support War. Not that we need them, but studies show how women are so adversely affected by war, in just about every way.

See Iraqi women, eg. Even under Saddam Hussein, Iraqi women had equal pay for equal work, they were free to follow any career of their choosing, and were doctors, professors, lawyers, wearing whatever they chose to wear.

Now see the plight of women in Iraq today. Just one example but there are so many more.

Bernie's positions on war and peace are another reason why THIS woman supports him.

I agree with the author, Bernie IS and always has been, a Champion for Women's rights and he has the record to prove it.